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Historians have traditionally regarded the series of seven Lincoln-Douglas Debates between Stephen Douglas, who was bidding for reelection to the Senate, and Abraham Lincoln, who had offered the challenge of these debates to Douglas, as among the most significant events in American political history. The debaters attracted national interest because of Douglas's prominence and his break with President Buchanan's administration. The main topic involved in the debates was based around slavery and the separation of the Union because of it. Both Lincoln and Douglas refer to the U.S. Constitution in their remarks and state different opinions surrounding what they interpret the meaning of certain parts regarding slavery to be.
Though Lincoln’s famous words from the Gettysburg Address, “a government of the people, by the people, for the people…” today resonates seamlessly with the language of the Constitution, Lincoln’s interpretation of the meaning of democracy was heavily contested in his day. As the Whig Party split between those who would allow the expansion of slavery into the territories and those who would not condone it, the Democratic Party held on a little longer under the principle of “popular sovereignty.” As Lincoln toured the country in debates with Stephen Douglas, his Democratic contender, he faced strong opposition from Douglas’ supporters, who contended that each individual state should decide whether or not slavery was permissible by a poll of its voting citizens. Lincoln had the audacity to challenge this principle at the foundation of Jackonian Democrats’ concept of liberty. He suggested that two white men did not have the democratic right to determine the fate of the third. Did Lincoln challenge the meaning of American democracy henceforth, or did he only try and slightly amend it? The following transcripts of Lincoln’s speeches and lesson plans suggest that on one level Lincoln’s legacy was his negotiation of the meaning of American democracy.